𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐊𝐀𝐆𝐄'𝐒 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐑 | gaara

Part 7

Nearly an hour had already passed and you and Gaara remained sitting in his office, reading from the workbooks. The first activity had been "talk about each other's interests and hobbies," and although that in itself wasn't necessarily a bad place to start, Gaara's determination to stick to the book and exclusively talk about only personal interests and hobbies meant that you couldn't really develop your conversation, leaving many awkward silences after each of you spoke.

"Right, so we've basically finished half of the first page! Are you in love with me yet?" you said teasingly as you leaned back on your chair with your feet up on the Kazekage's desk. Compared to how anxious you had been prior to meeting him and the elders, it was evident in your body language that you had relaxed a considerable degree. 

Gaara shook his head, eyes still skimming over the page.

"Not yet," he said, focused entirely on the workbook. You rolled your eyes in exasperation, with Gaara looking up at you. "I can't believe it's been an hour and we're still on the first page."

You raised your hands in defence.

"Move onto the next question," you suggested, your boredom growing by the minute. While you had tried to be as animated as you could be when explaining your own hobbies to the Kazekage, the spiel that he sent your way was a typical, run of the mill speech you'd expect to hear.

Gaara sighed and looked down at the book, following your instruction.

"Talk about your family," he said quietly. You let out a low whistle at the prompt, and looked at Gaara expectantly. However, he set the book down before him and looked at you interestedly, waiting to hear you speak.

"Me first?" you blinked, wondering if he wanted you to start.

"Yes."

"Well, I guess it's better now than never," you sighed, sliding your legs off of his desk and sitting up straight in your seat. "There's really nothing to tell you that you don't know, really. I'm sure they have it all in my files, but I guess I'll tell you again anyway. I have one brother, Ichiro, and one sister, Ri- [Name]. Our parents were Aina and Kenta, both of them Suna shinobi. From what I can remember, when [Name] was a baby, they were sent on a mission and just... never came back. Well... fully, anyway. We had some remnants of their clothes and stuff, but that was pretty much it. Obviously, it was safe to assume that they were dead, so then my siblings and I moved into the care of our only living relative still in Suna, our father's older brother, and his wife.

"They were both just commoners who had chosen not to pursue any ninjutsu training and instead became merchants, dealing with every day goods and whatnot. Anyways, about three years after they took us into their care, they were attacked and murdered by rogue ninja while they were out of the village, delivering goods to the next town over. My siblings and I were put into foster care, and thankfully the couple that took us in were supportive of our resolve to become skilfully trained shinobi, allowing all three of us to go for it.

"Since Ichiro's the oldest, he was the first of us to start doing missions, starting when he was around ten. But the money wasn't enough, so on top of that, he took on other little side jobs to try and save up enough so that he, R-[Name] and I could find a place of our own to stay. Not too long after, I followed suit, and eventually [Name] did too. Thankfully, with the three of us together it became easier and faster for us to earn money, and just as well we did. As soon as Ichiro turned eighteen, our foster care parents told us that they would be leaving Suna, having only stayed to look after us until we were able to look after ourselves. We bounced around a couple of times before ending up at the place where we're staying now, and tadah! Here I am."

Clasping your hands together, you beamed at the Kazekage. But on the inside, you were reeling.

You idiot! You're Risa!! Not [Name]!!

"Ah... how... chaotic," were the words that came out of Gaara's mouth.

"Chaotic alright," you snorted, crossing your arms. "Go on, Mr Kazekage. Your turn."

"Since you were honest with me, I guess I'll return the favour."

You waited.

"I was born to serve this village," he murmured in a low voice. "Shukaku was sealed into me when I was born, and as a result, my mother lost her life in the process. My father wanted me to be a tool that could be useful to Suna, and uplift us from the depths from which we had fallen into. I was unstable, unintentionally attacking citizens, and I was seen as more of a threat than a useful tool. My uncle, Yashamaru, was sent to test my control over the tailed beast. It failed, so badly, and ended up with him losing his life too. Because of this, my father tried numerous times to have me killed, but all attempts failed. It was a while before he stopped sending people to try and kill me. I also have an older sister named Temari, and an older brother named Kankuro. They're great."

As Gaara's words sunk in, you gawked at the way he had chosen to end his story, at a complete loss for words. Okay, you had known some of the Kazekage's history, but not to this extent.

"Both have no parents, both have two siblings. That's good, right?" he asked, shutting his book and looking at you blankly. "Are you okay? You look like you need a breather."

Taken aback, you continued to stare at Gaara, mouth agape. He looked at you and seemed to raise an eyebrow. Except he doesn't have any. So like... yeah. You scratched your head and laughed nervously, trying to avoid staring at the place where his eyebrows should've been.

"Well?" he asks. You jumped at the suddenness of his voice.

"What-?! I, um, yeah, sure! Where?" Gaara got to his feet, with you following suit. He shrugged at your question.

"Out, I guess."